a skyscraper soaring to about 60 storeys has been approved as an extension to the Petronas Twin Towers. It will be located next to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.[Proposed Menara Carigali]

The pricey plot near Suria KLCC will also be the site for the Four Seasons Centre Kuala Lumpur, with its tallest building standing at 70 storeys.[Proposed Four Seasons Centre]

It is touted to be a mixed development comprising a Four Seasons hotel, serviced apartments, luxury condominiums and retail outlets.

KL Sentral is also expected to have a structure towering at about 60 storeys.[Proposed 60-storey KL Sentral]

Another skyscraper to loom over Stadium Merdeka at about 40-storeys tall has also been approved in principle. [Proposed Plaza Merdeka]

It is learnt that this will be part of a privatisation project by the government.

Mahadi said

two other projects with 30-storey structures were waiting for their development orders.[there’re several others 30 to 50-storey skyscrapers proposed]

On talks that a 100-storey skyscraper would be erected near the Matrade centre, bordering Jalan Kuching and Jalan Duta, Mahadi said it was merely an enquiry.

He said no plan or application had been submitted on the so-called project and it was too early to say that Kuala Lumpur would have another building taller than the Twin Towers.

“High-rise projects in Kuala Lumpur have to abide by height guidelines.

“They cannot just follow the fancy of the landowners. These developers have been well informed of the policies in the Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2020, draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 and other planning regulations,” he said.

“The height of the buildings is related to land value, the more expensive the land, the higher the buildings but we still need to look into other aspects like road systems and public transport,” Mahadi said.

According to Mahadi, commercial zones are categorised as city centre, district centre and neighbourhood centre, to control development intensity.

The city centre commercial zone has the highest range of permissible plot ratio of up to 1:10. Plot ratio refers to the ratio of land area and floor area.

Superstructures can only be allowed in the city centre commercial zone, which is largely around the KLCC area, as well as other areas designated for the purpose such as KL Sentral and Mid Valley.

“This means that if a developer wants to erect a very tall building in an area outside the city centre commercial zone, it has to make sure there is a large span of green in the surroundings,” Mahadi said.

He advised the public to study the draft KL City Plan 2020 carefully to check on the development intensity proposed for the different areas.

“Some plans have been committed decades ago and the DBKL will have to follow up on these commitments.

“If land owners and residents think that these plans are no longer feasible, or they will suffer losses if the plans proceed, now is the time for them to register their objections,” he said.

The Draft KL City Plan objective is to turn Kuala Lumpur into a world-class city by 2020.

The plan states that “to achieve the vision for a world-class city by 2020, Kuala Lumpur needs an optimum population that supports the city’s role as a leading centre of the new economy”.

Kuala Lumpur is positioned to have a population of 2.2 million, up from the 1.5 million now by 2020, with a population density of 13,805 people per sq km in the city centre, similar to the population density of the busiest areas in Tokyo.

According to town planners interviewed by StarMetro, this demography is inconsistent with the National Physical Plan that advocates sustainable living in the city.

In fact, the physical plan’s objective is to slightly decrease the gross urban density of 29 people per hectare (2,900 people per sq km) to 25 per hectare.

Latest list of projects proposed for KL City and Mont’Kiara coming soon at Malaysia CIty!

He said no plan or application had been submitted on the so-called project and it was too early to say that Kuala Lumpur would have another building taller than the Twin Towers.

3 Responses to “KL reaches for the skies”

Hi, it is important for the people of Kuala Lumpur to understand the Plan and get involved in the process to ensure that transparency and accountability is practiced by the DBKL and Federal Territory Ministry.

Agreed. what a big deal with a building as on stand at 30-40 floors? nothing to shout off. Must understand KL have a very limited land, what ever we want to do, must take into a consideration of a long term period. I’m not saying that all the buildings in KL must be 100-200 storey but we must look into it. there’s alot of plan and structure of the kl layout plan need to be revise..but love to see more tall building in kl..but please dude..30-40 floors…it’s ok but not a super structure..u are not like here in Canada..plenty of land..huhu..adios